JIM THOMPSON was promoted to government sales representative for SimuFlite Training International. Thompson joined SimuFlite as an account representative. In his new position, he will provide customer support to existing clients, assist veterans with benefits and secure new training contracts with the U.S. government.
DONALD D. ENGEN Aero Club Trophy for Aviation Excellence will be presented to former FAA Administrator Najeeb Halaby at the club's monthly luncheon Oct. 17 in Washington, D.C. The featured speaker will be Jim Goodwin, chief executive of United Airlines.
INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE SUPPORT GROUP, INC., Atlanta, Ga., entered into a consignment agreement to sell surplus Raytheon Beech 1900 spare parts. "The addition of the Beech 1900 spare parts to our expanding commuter product line enhances our position as the leading premier commuter parts redistributor," said Alexius Dyer III, president and chief executive.
BILL DOLNY was promoted to national sales manager for SimuFlite Training International. Dolny will oversee SimuFlite's sales efforts in the U.S. He joined the company in 1994 as an account representative and most recently was regional sales manager for the western states.
Veteran aviation safety instructor John King said the aviation industry has been "telling the big lie" when it comes to the safety of general aviation, adding that the GA accident rate will not improve appreciably until pilots are taught to do a better job of risk management.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD, which stressed the importance of general aviation accident prevention at a symposium it held Thursday and Friday, is facing pressure to focus more on commercial aviation accidents and incidents and less on general aviation as budget resources get tighter, according to an industry source. NTSB Chairman James Hall told symposium attendees that the agency hopes to convince Congress to provide it with more inspectors to keep up with the "booming" general aviation segment.
Model AS350B3 helicopters (Docket No. 2000-SW-39-AD; Amdt. 39-11900; AD 2000-16-52) - publishes an Emergency AD sent previously to all known U.S. owners and operators of Model AS350B3 helicopters by individual letters. This AD requires visually inspecting the heat shield attachment areas on the tail rotor drive shaft forward fairing for a crack. This AD also requires, at specified time intervals, removing the fairing and inspecting the heat shield attachment areas on the fairing for a crack.
CESSNA named Wallan Aviation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Aeromont Ltda. in Montevideo, Uruguay, as authorized sales representatives for the Cessna Caravan and Citation lines. Wallan Aviation, founded in 1998 by Saad Wallan, focuses on aircraft sales but has plans to expand into aircraft service and management. Aeromont, founded in 1990, also is a Cessna single-engine CSTAR and an authorized service station.
ARINC, the Annapolis, Md.-based developer of communications and information processing systems, signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 25 percent equity interest in AeroV Inc., the recently formed subsidiary of First Aviation that has developed an inventory and order processing "AeroCommerce Platform" through the Internet designed specifically for the aviation industry. The definitive agreement formalizes a memorandum of understanding announced in June.
FAA Friday reported continued growth in delays for the month of August. Delays last month reached 47,893, a 7.8 percent increase over July and a 28.8 percent over August 1999, FAA reported. The latest report comes as Congress has taken an increasing interest in the growing delay and congestion problem. The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing this month on the issue (BA, Sept. 18/126) and the House aviation subcommittee is expected to follow suit this week.
The U.S. Air Force grounded its T-6A Texan II trainers Monday and ordered replacement of the aircraft's oil cooler, prompted by an incident in which the engine of a Canadian T-6A seized in flight.
HONEYWELL introduced an enhanced dual role retractable landing and taxi light for the Cessna Model 650 business jet. Based on a microprocessor design, the light features self-diagnostics, light angle repositioning at touchdown for taxi lighting and a "soft-start" function to extend lamp life.
Model 412, 412EP, and 412CF helicopters (Docket No. 2000-SW-29-AD; Amdt. 39-11894; AD 2000-18-09) -- requires inspecting the upper left-hand cap angle and adjacent structure for a crack and, before further flight, replacing any cracked cap angle and repairing any crack in the adjacent structure. This AD is prompted by a report of a fatigue crack in a tailboom attachment cap angle. The actions specified in this AD are intended to prevent failure of a cap angle, loss of the tailboom, and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.
OPERATING SLOTS at New York's La Guardia Airport were becoming a high-visibility political issue last week, as Port Authority officials ordered airlines not to add flights at LGA and political leaders in Washington said such a prohibition is against the law.Robert E. Boyle, executive director of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, implemented "a temporary moratorium on the initiation of new...flights" effective Oct.
Pemco Aviation Group, Inc., will expand its aircraft overhaul capabilities in Dothan, Ala., part of a plan to consolidate all of Pemco's commercial aircraft operations in Dothan. Pemco currently has nearly 500 employees in Dothan and plans to double its production capacity there over the next five years, which will necessitate hiring another 500 workers. The company also announced that it will not renew the lease for its Victorville, Calif. facility, which also does work on commercial aircraft.
MERCURY AIR GROUP named new general managers at four of its fixed-base operations. Charles Fredrickson, a 25-year general aviation veteran and former vice president/general manager of Casper Air Service in Casper, Wyo., was appointed general manager at Mercury's new facility in Fort Wayne, Ind. Joe De Silva, formerly station manager for Sawyer Aviation's commercial aviation department, takes over at Tulsa, Okla.
WHEN FOARC delivered its recommendations to FAA in late February, members were anticipating the economic analysis would be done by early June and that FAA would complete its own notice of proposed rulemaking by late summer (BA, Feb. 28/98). That schedule, which has proved optimistic, did not anticipate final adoption of a rule until late summer or early fall in 2001. Unless the process is speeded up, it now appears that final adoption could slip into 2002.
Docket No.: 29974 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 121.154 and 135.91 Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit the operator of an aircraft to allow passengers to furnish, carry, and operate certain oxygen storage, generating, and dispensing equipment for medical use onboard the aircraft. Denial, July 25, 2000, Exemption No. 7285
Airline and Administration officials, who appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee to discuss ways to address increasing delays and congestion, agreed that FAA modernization efforts only will provide incremental relief and that the time has come to "make some very hard decisions" to increase capacity. The national aviation system, concluding a busy summer, has reached its "fall window of opportunity" to develop concrete solutions to avoid similar problems in the future, said Kenneth Mead, the DOT Inspector General.
Docket No.: 30002 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 145.45(f) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Ross to make its repair station Inspection Procedures Manual (IPM) available electronically to its supervisory, inspection, and other personnel, rather than give a paper copy of the IPM to each of its supervisory and inspection personnel. Grant, May 19, 2000, Exemption No. 7229
Docket No.: 30034 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR Sec. 61.23(c)(1)(i) Description of Relief Sought: To extend the duration of a first class medical certificate from six months to one year for CAPA-member union pilots exercising the privileges of an airline transport pilot certificate.
LANCAIR completed the first European delivery of a Columbia 300 single-engine aircraft. The aircraft ferried from the U.S. to Bremen, Germany via Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland, Reykavik, Iceland and Lelystad, Netherlands. Hanseatische Luftwerft GmbH, Lancair's certified European dealer, will operate the aircraft for demonstration trips.
"OBSCENE" was the description Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) used last week in his latest rant that business jet operators do not pay more into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.During a hearing Thursday on congestion in the national airspace system, McCain repeated his earlier claims that "corporate aircraft fly around the country for free" while most other Americans will have to pay increased taxes for their airline tickets.
EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY appointed Tim Brady dean of the School of Aviation at the Daytona Beach, Fla. campus. Brady has served as acting dean of the school since September 1999 and before that was associate dean of the school and chairman of the Applied Aviation Sciences Department. He has more than 20 years of higher education, administration and teaching experience and serves on the board of trustees of the Council on Aviation Accreditation.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD said the flight instructor and student pilot in a Robinson R22 Beta were killed Aug. 18 when the aircraft "experienced the in-flight separation of its main rotor blade assembly during cruise flight." The helicopter crashed into a plowed field near Watsonville, Calif. at the end of an uncontrolled descent and burned. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the 1755 PDT crash.
